Reuters : Sri Lanka Tiger rebel plane bombs air force base

Sri Lanka Tiger rebel plane bombs air force base

By Ranga Sirilal | October 22, 2007

COLOMBO (Reuters) - The Tamil Tigers' nascent air wing dropped two bombs on an air force base in north Sri Lanka before dawn on Monday, the military said, the latest daring air assault amid renewed civil war.

The rebel air strike in the north-central district of Anuradhapura comes months after the Tigers' first ever air attacks using light aircraft smuggled into the country in pieces, and as near daily land, air and sea clashes occur.

Two airmen, including one officer, were killed inside the base and 20 others were wounded in the attack, while four crew aboard a helicopter gunship, scrambled to search the area, were killed when it crash-landed several kilometers away, the military said.

The crash was due to technical reasons and not rebel gunfire, it added.

Ten Tiger fighters were killed during a gunbattle at the base, the military said. There were no independent accounts of what happened or how many people were killed.

"Two LTTE aircraft dropped bombs on the base," said military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara. "We have recovered 10 LTTE bodies from the base."

He said a small group of Tiger fighters had also attacked the base from the ground, and a search operation was ongoing. The Tiger aircraft escaped.

An air force spokesman said two MI-24 helicopters parked at the base were damaged in the attack.

A search operation was underway around the air force base, one of Sri Lanka's largest.

The Tigers' air wing of light aircraft bombed oil installations and an air base adjacent to the island's only international airport earlier this year. The Tigers have warned more such attacks could follow.

"It was a combined operation of our air force and land troops and the target was the Anuradhapura air base, which functions as the logistics (base for the north)," rebel military spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiraiyan said by telephone from the Tigers' northern de facto capital of Kilinochchi.

"We have not ruled out the potential of more similar attacks in the future."

Monday's attack in the north, where renewed civil war is now focused after troops drove the Tigers from bastions in the east of the island, comes after the military said dozens of Tigers were killed in heavy fighting in the north last week.

An estimated 5,000 people have been killed since early last year in land and sea clashes, ambushes and air strikes, taking the death toll since the conflict erupted in 1983 to around 70,000.

The Tigers seek to carve out an independent state in the north and east. The government rules that out and has instead vowed to evict the rebels from all territory they control.

While the government has had the upper hand in recent months, analysts say there is no clear winner on the horizon and fear the conflict could rumble on for years.

Counter-terrorism experts say the only hope is for both sides to reach a long-elusive political settlement.

© Reuters 2007 All rights reserved